FYI - Benning was also one of the main guys behind shipping Seguin off to Dallas after all the drama he was involved with. Pretty much the reason why they shipped off Kesler this off-season instead of letting it fester over the season.

Benning/Linden probably aren't confident in Lack/Markstrom as the goaltenders for next season.

Benning has said multiple times this team is a playoff team/his goal is to try to make the playoffs every season :pokerface:

Adding to the fact, Aqualini's are probably trying to push Benning into making the Canucks get into the playoffs.....at the end of the day it's all about money for them...

Canucks making the playoffs = ticket sales = revenue for those greedy bastards

But it is now.

Him previously being a scout isn't that applicable. Sure, maybe he's got an eye for talent but his experience previously has no bearing on players he knows nothing about in this draft. It's common knowledge that outside of the first pick the acting GM has very little input in picks because they do not have any background on said players. It's all the same pile of shit suggesting the picks as they run through the draft. I'll give them credit the picks this year at least appear to be going in a different direction, but odds are since it was Smyl and company doing the scouting they will probably be status quo.

As for my take on Benning, it's obviously too early to tell anything solid. But if he is actually going after Miller, Iginla, etc that just reaks of ownership desperate for playoff revenue once again. Those players are not transitional type players, nor are the Canucks in a transitional period like when MG signed Sundin. They are in a rebuild, they need to develop talent from within and sign younger "veterans" who can either stick around and have an impact or be great role player.

Personally id love to see Benning take a shot at Stastny. Give stastny 5 years at 6 mill and give him a share of first line type minutes and PP

rumors around the league was that kesler was not going to come to camp, and sit out until he was traded. thats not gonna increase value

as for brodeur, when has he ever mentored a goalie? its him or gtfo.
miller only seems to care, and play up to his level every 4 years, which coincides with the olympics. every other year he is ok/disappointing.

either sign hiller or trade for neimi. both would be good as a number 1, but have experience of splitting time. which would be good for development of lack.

markstrom is gone imo.

interesting who knows what could happen

Retweeted by Canucks Hockey
NHL RUMORS & TRADES@NHLNEWS365·21 mins
Reportedly Linden was seen with Iginla having sushi at Mabui in Kelowna #Canucks

I think the going after Iginla/Miller is all Aquaman...i would like to think that Benning has enough sense to see that bringing those guys here isn't gonna do anything other than waste cap space.

Stastny would be good...but I doubt it would be at 5 years at 6 mil...it's gonna take more than that as he's coming off a 6.6M AAV 5 year contract

Yea, Av's are weary to go higher than duchene with him, if he goes for cheap it will probably be back to the Av's

Like I said in an earlier post, with the cap going up the mindset of what X player is worth is changing

Iginla for the right price would be a very nice pick up

what's a good price for Iginla?

he'd be wasting his time here...he might as well go back to the Flames if he's considering going to Van :lawl:

i know he's been a consistent scorer, but he's at the tail end of his career meaning that that 1 year where he'll put up nothing is looming. With the Canucks' luck (if he ends up signing with us) that year of nothing is probably gonna be here.

End his career in a place he has absolutely no chance to win?

if iginla signs with the canucks he will perform like sundin....if he comes back to the flames he will probably be pretty good as he always is.


that being said as much as I hate the canucks and love the flames, I would be interested to see how him and the sedins would play together...it would probably be nice to have a forward who can fight on the sedins line :troll:

Not sure if it was mentioned before ..but according to Dan Murphy tweet, Chris Tanev turned down the offer from Canucks

that was to be expected...it was only a qualifying offer of 850k, word is that this is gonna be another long-term pain in the ass type of negotiation with Tanev.

Did Kassian accept his?

nope

its not about accepting the offer yet, they just had to make the offer so the RFA's don't turn into UFA's

It's fucked up. Apparently kassian QO is less than what he earned last season.

just found out he turned it down
as per CBA, his last year's salary is 810k and because its less then a mil but more than 660k, the qualifying offer only needs to be increased by 5%
hence, the 850k

i'd sign him to a bridge contract...nothing more than $1.9mil

everyone turns down their qualifying offer. its just so they don't become UFAs like the person said above.

shroeder let go, didnt qualify

Inb4 shredder goes to some shit team, scores 12 goals and Canucks fans be like "lost another one"

Seems like a bad idea, at least give him an offer/sign a cheap contract. Use him for trade bait and get a pick back, or send him to play in the AHL. The Comets does some more talent.

I mean, a previous first rounder should at least be good enough to play in AHL

Was already reported Schroeder wasn't going to be qualified and was being shopped:

News1130 Sports @News1130Sports · Jun 19

Been told the #Canucks will try and move former 1st round draft pick Jordan Schroeder before and at the NHL Draft.

Very unlikely the Canucks would qualify him on June 30th - Schroeder needs a fresh start with another organization.

Schroeder never got the chance to make the team as a winger - as opposed to centre. Small and skilled but Canucks play in heavy division.

Just 56 games played in VAN since 2009 for Schroeder. Time to make room for Jensen, Guance, Horvat, Fox and Shinkaruk.

--

Benning probably tried trading him/getting a pick but no takers.

-found out today that one of my co-workers is Virtanen's cousin. She was at the draft last Friday. Wow!

Anyways, found out some inside info. from my co-worker about our team's top pick and his family:

-very outgoing extrovert. According to my co worker, all the Euro players at the draft are friends with Jake.

-Virtanen hates the Grouse Grind. -absolutely hates it. Fortunately, Smyl, who is in charge of the training for our prospects, told Virtanen that he doesn't have to do the Grind with the other prospects because of his shoulder. Virtanen's reaction:

"Oh, that's too bad. That's unfortunate".

-Jake's grandmother is a huge hockey fan. She kept saying "Best day ever! Best day ever! This is better than my wedding, the birth of my children, ", after the Canucks drafted Virtanen.

-When Virtanen played with the under 18 team at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka tournament, there was a Russian player that kept trash talking against him during a game. Jake asks one of the Russian players that he is friends with what the Russian is saying. The Russian told Jake "just tell him to fuck off".

-Virtanen starts yelling F bombs at the Russian player who trash talks him just before a face off in agame.

Yeah I heard about that as well. Just felt there were better ways than to just throw away 5 years of development. Admittedly, Canucks probably could have done more.